St. Francis and the larks...

The larks are birds that love the noonday light and shun the darkness of twilight. But on the night that St. Francis went to Christ, they came to the roof of the house, though already the twilight of the night to follow had fallen, and they flew about the house for a long time amid a great clamour, whether to show their joy or their sadness in their own way by their singing, we know not. Tearful rejoicing and joyful sorrow made up their song, either to bemoan the fact that they were orphaned children, or to announce that their father was going to his eternal glory. The city watchmen, who guarded the place with great care, were filled with astonishment and called the others to witness the wonder.

Thomas of Celano, Tractatus de Miraculis - 32

Sophisticated urban Westerners will often lift a weary eyebrow at stories like this, but those of us who have also spent years out in the countryside in all weathers, and at the strangest times of day, may be less inclined to... of which more sometime later, perhaps.